Chelsey Luger: Interview with VICE producer on Native gangs

That brings me to my next question. How did you find these gang members to interview?

Facebook. They all have Facebook. But also a guy named Larry Morissette, who was a really helpful social worker who introduced us to some of the characters. His family is gang affiliated, he grew up in Winnipeg, and he does a lot of work helping ex gang members get jobs and rebuild their lives, so he has an established level of trust with the community.

Where else did you get your background information from?

I read a book called Indians Wear Red about Aboriginal gang violence which was really helpful and it informed a lot of my research. I also reached out to a lot of community based organizations—groups that work with neighborhoods where there’s a lot of gang activity. And the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg was incredibly helpful.

Okay, last question. The nature of this story is obviously tragic, but was there anything you you learned about Native culture through the course of your reporting that struck you as particularly interesting or positive?

I was really lucky that I got to actually experience a side of Native culture that I never have before. I learned about tobacco offering, so when I met with Eric [the elder interviewed in the piece] the first thing I did was give him an offering of tobacco to show that my intentions were pure. Eric brought the story to a really interesting place in terms of culture, and his personal story really informed my understanding of what was going on. He was so understanding, and I couldn’t believe the way in which he was totally okay with explaining every single question I had, because there was so much I didn’t know. I felt really lucky to get the chance to speak with him. We also went to a memorial feast, which we didn’t film out of respect, for a gang member who was killed last year, and so I felt very lucky to partake and be included and welcomed into the culture in that experience.